


Sometimes it's incredibly lonely together

by Bluebellepeppers



Series: Harry Potter Zombie Au [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor, Fred Weasley Lives, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Loneliness, Mild Angst, Post-Zombie Apocalypse, Pre-Relationship, Slice of Life, Zombie Apocalypse, in the future, still magic tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:21:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26475601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluebellepeppers/pseuds/Bluebellepeppers
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Fred Weasley
Series: Harry Potter Zombie Au [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928677
Comments: 10
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

“We’re down to our last few bins of food.” Fred said, joining Hermione in their living room. She glanced up from her sudoku, frowning.  
“I thought we had more than that in the extra room.”  
Internally, she sighed. It was exhausting, keeping track of everything. At least Fred volunteered to keep track of food, being the one out of all of them that could actually cook properly. But she couldn’t help falling into her old habits of taking care of everything, a remnant from running with Harry and Ron. 

Fred lowered his head, shame clearly spread across his face. “I didn’t realize how warm it would get in that room and a dozen or so cans exploded.” 

She should get mad at him. The Old Hermione would yell and scold and storm out. Before the zombies, when they could afford to turn their backs on eachother, if only temporarily. Before she had lost everyone and everything beyond the ginger boy standing in front of her. 

They had lost Ginny to a particularly nasty Zombie bite. Harry and Ron were ignoring that pain and were across the country, fighting the hordes. They lost track of George, although they ran into him once or twice. Something in him had changed, and not even Fred could help him. The rest of their families were hiding in strongholds, magical places across the country.  
They hid from the world, and she thought them weak for it.  
So she stared at Fred, the only person she had left. 

She was so, so very tired. 

Fred still expected old Hermione. She could tell from his tense shoulders, the way he was already retreating out of the room, and she hadn’t even said a word.  
“It’s-it’s ok Fred, we’ll figure something out.”

He stopped retreating, clearly surprised at her change of heart. Hermione gave him a thin smile. Silence filled the room, replacing the fight they could’ve had. It replaced the joke he could’ve made, which were fewer and far between these days.  
The redhead slowly sat down on the sad chair across from Hermione.

“We should go into town.” She finally said, leaning back into her chair.  
A small map of the area was in her bag, and she spread it out on the small coffee table between them. A happy face sticker, from an owner before her, said “You are here!” about ten miles out from their actual location. Just as well, should someone with ill intentions steal it.  
Fred nodded. “We haven’t scouted it yet, so we’ll have to be careful.”

“And we don’t have the boys this time, so even more so.” 

They had, at one point, been traveling with Harry and Ron. And Ginny, before she was bit. All five of them would scout out towns, constantly watching each other's backs. They even had a broom, which Ginny used for air support. It made her invincible, to an extent. Probably why it was such a shock that she got bit. The image of Ginny uselessly grasping for her broom while an infected dragged her away. Hermione hitting it with a curse just as it bit into Ginny’s shoulder.  
Hermione shook the memory out of her head. 

If Fred noticed her brief lapse of silence, he didn’t mention it. They spent the rest of the evening planning for their trip into town. As the sun began to wane and the moon showed it’s face, Hermione was finally satisfied with the plan. It was solid. No one could get hurt. She had to believe that. 

Fred returned to his seat with two bowls of beans. She took one, trying to hide her annoyance about beans. Again. It wasn’t Fred’s fault, but in that moment, she could’ve lashed out.

Fred didn’t give her the chance. “I’m sorry it’s just cold beans.” He said, and then a smirk crossed his face. “But we do have some very fancy warm soda.” He waved a small bottle of coke in front of her and then poured it into two small cups that she could swear weren’t there a second ago. 

She let herself relax. “Oh thank you, I’m sure it was very expensive to come by.” She wiggled her eyebrows at him over the child sized cup of soda. 

Fred mock bowed. “Only the finest for my lady.” 

“The finest being the only thing that Didn’t explode?” She grinned, praying he knew by now when she was teasing. 

“Oh you wound me.” Fred said, placing the back of his hand against his forehead and leaning back. “To think I wouldn’t do anything for you.” He winked at the brunette. 

Hermione blushed as his statement, suddenly finding cold beans very fascinating. 

\--------------

Fred took the first watch as Hermione tried to get some sleep. Sure they had wards and traps and such, but nothing would ever beat good old human paranoia.  
Hermione couldn’t sleep. Not unusual, considering everything, but frustrating just the same. She huffed, getting up to join Fred. He sat in the dining room, on a couch they had placed in front of the window. From that angle one could see the driveway and the door, and was quite the vantage point. She announced her presence to avoid a wand in her face before seating herself beside him. 

“Couldn’t sleep?” He murmured, although he knew the answer. It was routine, really. 

“No, I just wanted both of us to be sleep deprived tomorrow.” She rolled her eyes. She couldn’t bring any malice in her tone. There was no point.  
Fred smiled, glancing at her face.  
Normally Fred would just give her the rest of the watch and go to sleep. But something stopped him.  
He glanced at her and patted his lap. “Rest your head and I’ll bore you to sleep.” 

Hermione would have blushed if she had been awake enough. But honestly, they needed each other. They needed physical touch, and they had started to take turns giving the other chances for it. 

Sometimes it was incredibly lonely together. 

She laid down, resting her head comfortably on his lap. They stayed in that position in silence, and she raised her eyes to watch the stars through the window. A thin, calloused hand began to gently comb through her hair, taking apart any knots it ran into. A familiar hum started from deep in Fred’s chest, vibrating ever so slightly against the back of her head. 

Hermione fell asleep with a smile on her face.


	2. He was lost and now he's found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone shows up, and Fred is yearning.

Fred didn’t wake her. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep, and that nothing was more comfortable than where he was now. 

He glanced down from the window to watch her face. A slant of moon light lit up her face, casting an almost otherworldly look to her. He smiled as she sighed and tried to bury her head into his knee. 

It was cool that night, and a light breeze could be felt through a crack in the window. He shivered slightly. Since the world had ended, the only way he could keep track of time was hermione's analog watch, and he had no clue where it was. It had to be at least early morning, although still dark. 

He knew she needed to sleep. He had kept her up the night before, after he woke up from a nightmare and she dragged it out of him. 

Everytime he dreamt was the same thing. George turning his back on him as Ginny screamed in the background. Sometimes Hermione was there, sometimes Ron. They never had anything nice to add to his dream. Harry was never there. Fred didn’t know what that meant, perhaps he had no guilt related to the boy who lived. 

Fred was jerked out of his thoughts by a crack outside. He gently moved Hermione’s head to a rolled up sweatshirt, and rose to look. A second crack shot out, louder. Closer. He gripped his wand and placed a silent protection spell over the sleeping witch. 

The front door was bolted shut, but it had a small peephole in it. He peered through, anticipating any number of things. An animal, a zombie, or worse a human prowler. Zombies don’t steal food supplies. 

He saw a dark shape coming up the driveway towards the door. It was almost familiar. He strained to make out its features, but it was too dark. The shape had reached the door and was nearly looking him straight in the eye. 

Then it knocked. 3 soft raps against the wood, a pause and then a tap tap. 

Fred pulled back. That was a knock code he would always recognize. But...he couldn’t be sure. What if it had been stolen?

He shook his head and cracked the door open, leaving what bolts he could in place.  
“Who is it.” 

“Fred it’s me. It’s George.”  
The one who claimed to be George whispered lumos and lit up his face. Sure enough, a one eared copy of Fred stood on the steps.

“I-.” Fred faltered, then raised his wand. “Prove it. Telling me something only George would know.”

“When we were 7, you promised to marry this muggle girl down the road so that she would share her candies with you.” George smirked, and Fred noticed a new scar running down his face. 

Fred let out a shaky laugh. “I can’t believe you remember that.” He unbolted the rest of the door and let George in, quickly locking it up after. 

George grabbed Fred into a tight hug, squeezing the breath out of him. They stood like that in silence for a while, neither daring to pull away. Fred finally extracted himself when he heard a quiet voice calling out in the next room. 

He quickly ran to join Hermione on the couch, where she was calling out in her sleep. She was crying out her friends' names, clearly in distress. Fred gently shook her, trying to wake her. The brunette opened her eyes, although they were still clouded with sleep. 

“Fred?” 

“I’m right here, you’re going to be ok.” He said, pulling her into his arms and smoothing down her hair. It was risky, as she was still half asleep and could easily take him for an attacker. But instead she became subdued, and slowly drifted back off. 

This was fairly regular for the two of them. Part of taking watch was a silent agreement to help the other sleep better, no matter what they needed to do. Even if they had to curl up together. The world was too messed up to worry about any implications, in Fred’s opinion. 

She wasn’t crying out anymore, but he couldn’t risk getting up and waking her. He glanced towards the doorway, where George was standing silently. 

George raised an eyebrow at his brother, smirking slightly. Fred rolled his eyes and shushed his brother before he could say anything stupid. Fred pointed towards a blanket on the floor next to him, glaring at his brother. 

George handed him the blanket and watched as Fred tucked Hermione in it. George eventually sat down on the floor and leaned against the couch, staring at the stars through the window. 

They didn’t discuss anything.  
George offered to continue the watch so that Fred would get some sleep, and he happily obliged. He curled up on the couch, still holding Hermione in his arms. He could fall asleep next to her forever, Fred thought to himself, as he drifted off into a dreamless sleep. 

And for this one night, he had no nightmares. He was content. His two favorite people were there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. I ended up getting more inspo and writing another chapter. I have no idea if I'll continue with this, as I'm trying really hard to finish Bon Appetit. But i enjoy it was kind of a break? From more serious plot driven. This'll be mostly fluff and slice of life, which sometimes everyone needs.


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